Matt Slauson out after shoulder surgery

Posted by Josh Alper on May 27, 2014, 5:59 PM EST

AP

The Bears are likely going to be without one of their starting guards until training camp.

Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune reports that left guard Matt Slauson had surgery on his right shoulder to repair a partial labrum tear. Slauson is likely to miss the rest of OTAs and minicamp, but Biggs reports that the Bears are confident he’ll be ready “well in advance” of training camp.

Slauson reportedly could have tried to play through the injury, but chose to have the operation now in hopes of being 100 percent before the start of the season.

Slauson started all 16 games for the Bears last season, his first in Chicago after four years with the Jets, and signed a four-year, $12.8 million deal to remain with the team earlier in the offseason. Eben Britton and Brian de la Puente saw time with the first team in Slauson’s absence on Tuesday.

I was running a job in Long Beach several years ago. I had to go to Los Angeles to get material. My route required that I take the Slauson Cutoff. I resisted the urge to get out of the car, cut off my slauson, and get back in the car.

dg0122 says:May 27, 2014 7:22 PM

I thought the Slauson Cutoff was the cheap shoot he threw on Brian Cushing in 2012

bassplucker says:May 27, 2014 8:08 PM

I wish this would have been done in February vs waiting till now but it is what it is. He was a great pickup by the Bears. I hope he’s good to go by training camp. Meanwhile some of their depth players will get valuable increased reps during the OTAs.

Waffle 2.0 says:May 27, 2014 8:27 PM

barsfordays says: May 27, 2014 6:07 PM

They’ll use this injury as an excuse when they miss the playoffs…
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nerd. ball.

You can never have enough good OL, or DL for that matter, and if Slauson is down the Bears can still pick up some solid veterans. They were AWFUL in short yardage situations last year and not so great running up the middle. I would love to see more of the “I” or power sweep, and that can only be done with stronger run blocking OL. With Forte, Carey, Ford and the burner Perry, the Bears running game could be dangerous, and as much as I love to see the passing game do well, nothing beats a great running game to humiliate the opposition.